Supervisors Tighten Law on Disclosure of Funding for Reports

Groups that use studies in their lobbying of the County Board of Supervisors must disclose the source of funding for the reports under legislation approved Tuesday.

The board’s unanimous vote came after the disclosure that WMX Technologies paid for an engineering study that was critical of a plan by its trash-hauling rival, Browning-Ferris Industries, to reopen Sunshine Canyon landfill above Granada Hills.

WMX, formerly known as Waste Management Industries, provided the North Valley Coalition with about $60,000 for the engineering report and other costs.

Although WMX funded the report, the study was conducted by an independent engineering firm. It was presented by the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens, a neighborhood group that has long opposed the landfill, to various government officials who are responsible for approving aspects of the landfill.

Neither WMX nor the North Valley Coalition disclosed their relationship until a private investigator hired by Browning-Ferris uncovered payment invoices for the engineering study billed to WMX.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday also moved to put teeth into an existing lobbying ordinance by granting itself the authority to terminate the registration--or to bar the re-registration--of lobbyists who violate the county lobbying law.

And the board voted to change the deadline by which lobbyists are required to file their quarterly reports with the county to correspond with state deadlines.

County lobbying laws are generally weaker than those in the city of Los Angeles, which has an ethics commission to investigate possible violations. Still, Arnie Berghoff, director of governmental affairs for Browning-Ferris, said the new disclosure rule will close a loophole in the county’s lobbying ordinance.

“The Board of Supervisors was shocked when they learned they were lied to by the North Valley Coalition when the coalition represented to them that this was an independent study,” Berghoff said. “Any decision-maker needs to know the source of funding for a study used to lobby them . . . it’s common sense.”

Mary Edwards, president of the North Valley Coalition, said the coalition did not hide the source of the money. Edwards said her group did not publicize the sponsor because they were not required to do so by law.

Edwards also called it “ironic” that the Board of Supervisors, which operates under relatively lax laws concerning campaign contributions, had imposed stricter rules on lobbying groups.

“I think it’s a little ridiculous coming from the Board of Supervisors, which itself has no limit on [campaign] contributions,” Edwards said.

Charles White, director of regulatory affairs for WMX, said the corporation, which is the nation’s largest trash hauler, supported the new county law and denied any wrongdoing.

“We weren’t trying to hide anything,” he said. “The new rules are consistent with the way we try to do business.”

After the source of funding for the engineering report became public in June, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick proposed a city ordinance similar to the one approved by county supervisors Tuesday. Chick’s proposal is being reviewed by the city’s ethics commission.

Despite the engineering report, which questioned the stability of the landfill’s liner during a major earthquake, county and state officials approved a dump at Sunshine Canyon, and the landfill opened last month.

The landfill now is open only on the county portion of Sunshine Canyon, but Browning-Ferris officials hope to win approval to expand onto city property at the site within the next few months.